


Cut Off A Head For Hydra

by Noxtorious



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assissan!Reader, F/M, Flesh Eater!Reader, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-neutral Reader, M/M, Past Abuse, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Reader-Insert, gender neutral reader, more like a mcu/xeno 2 fusion, no knowledge of xeno 2 required, reader is kinda creepy but not on purpose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-08-04 08:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16343576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noxtorious/pseuds/Noxtorious
Summary: You are one of the oldest Blades in Hydra's employ. Something that even puts some of Hydra's superhero enemies on pause. A invaluable tool when it came to nudging the world in the right direction and assisting the Asset. The Winter Solider. Hydra's own man made Aegis. You knew that he was your Driver. Maybe. Blades couldn't be each other Drivers after all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Eh. Haven't done reader-insert stuff in like yeaaars. Literal years. But I had this idea wracking around for a minute.  
> Don't ask me where this is going. I have no clue. Its something angsty but will be cute later on? I dunno, I have no plan.

"It will be fine, Asset. I will be here when you wake."

It was a lie. You were just reciting what you were always told to say when the Asset was getting maintenance.  It always made him stop snarling when the scientist got to close to him at least. They worked to adjust the Chair and tinker with the machinery that surrounded them. He looked at you but he wasn't. It was more looking through you. Some of the other agents liked to joke that the Asset was just a puppet to bark orders at. You knew better. Blades could read each other with ease. Or it could be the bond that you two shared. Animal like fear pulsed like the dim roar of an air siren down your spine at the thought of the Chair. You weren't sure if you were projecting you own feelings though.

"We will be put on a glorious mission together and it will be perfect."

More lines to keep the Asset docile. You might have gone on a mission or two with him once. Rumlow would know. He knew lots of things. Like how maintenance was not only good for the Asset but for you as well. Apparently, you both got 'fuckin' terrifying' if not put on a mission on a set basis. With supervision. There were vague flashes of annoyance with lots of shouting. The feeling of your dual cannon pistols going off, the kickbacks reverberating through your body with a preserve glee. Back to back with the Asset as that beautiful work of Hydra machinery strangled someone to death. Enchanting.

You moved closer to Solider, resting your gloved hands on his shoulder. The ether lines shone bright in the dim space, casting dark shadows across that perfect face. It got those eyes to latch onto you with laser focus. Having that eyes on you was elating. Electrifying. As if someone filled your ether lines with acid and your were dissolving from the inside. You had no idea but you wanted to squeeze into the Chair with him. No. Burrow yourself under his skin and settle underneath his rib cage. It sounded beautiful. Poetic. A dreamy smile crept up behind the mask covering the lower half of your face.

The Asset was truly the perfect Blade. Better than some filthy Aegis. One of your hands moved slow and deliberate down the other's metal arm until you got to where the star core crystal lay. Core crystals didn't usually latch onto inorganic materials unless the craftsman knew what they were doing. Which made the red star shaped core crystal that shore with an ugly dull pulsing light all the more insulting and pretty. The color insulted you. It should be a delightful shade of blue like yours. Wait. Your own core crystal was perfectly bisected down the middle, red and blue distinct from each other. Nestled in a perfect diamond shape where your belly button would be if you were human and jutting out the back of your neck in a delicate spike. Rumlow liked to drag you by it if he found you had done something not to his liking. Which was fifty perfect of the time.

A harsh, demanding Driver but a Driver that belonged to Hydra so you would do as assigned. Huh. When was the last time you got to look at your own Core Crystal? Mismatched eyes focus back on the Solider, tapping the crystal on his arm in a uneven rhythm. You didn't notice that act got the minions around you a little more jittery, more wary of your body language. Didn't matter.

Why were you so fond of the Winter Solider? ~~The Red Room's~~ Hydra's own man made Blade that could likely take down the Aegis. Could damage you to the point of having to return your crystal but wouldn't because it was supposed to **hurt**. Hurt meant being alive and remembering to make it not hurt the next time. If there was a next time. It was just strange. You could distinctly remember four missions, the recent one notwithstanding. That didn't count according to Pierce. Both of you missed extraction and had gone missing for about a week before turning up somewhere on the West Coast.

You only know that from Rumlow shouting about it when he slapped you around when you got released from the labs. You understood why they were upset but you were following order. The Solider was always in charge when it was the two of you and it had been...instinct and niggling feeling that you got sometimes when he commanded you. Drawing your hands away from the Asset, you grabbed onto the fur lapels of your bridge coat. Fiddled with Hydra pin on the inside to draw yourself from that acid itchy feeling of a scattered memory.

"Get over here. "

Ah. Rumlow was giving you a hard look from where he stood with Pierce and the rest of the Strike Team. A discreet look around had you realizing that everything was set to go. Where did time fly? It was physically painful to pull from your kindred spirit. Especially the further you walked, the faster his breathing sped up. Or was it yours? The Chair never meant good things in retrospect but it made you both functional. Good for Hydra and that meant good for mankind. The pain was necessary. The only thing you could was shove those feelings down as you slithered your way over. A jerk of Rumlow's head made you pay attention to Pierce, the bespoke man standing there with a pleasant smile on his face.

You dipped you head in obedience, eyes glued on the floor as you awaited orders. You didn't panic when you where told to sink to your knees. You were the picture of stoicism when he was removed your face mask which he wanted you to speak. Not that the mask didn't allow you to speak. It was just a Blade thing. It functioned like a real mask only if you wanted it to. It was there for less your own protection and for everyone around you. You were glad your hair naturally obscured your eyes just for how naked you felt with the half face mask. It was fine. You were fine. Better than the Solider whose harsh breathing was drowned out by the talking in the room.

"Tell me, asset. What is your purpose?" Pierce asked, arms folding with an easy smile as he awaited his answer.

That was easy even with that smile telling you the punishments you would face without words if you did not answer well. Not right because there was only one answer to the question. How well could you phrase it to satisfy him?

"...To be Hydra's Blade. Be a useful tool to the Asset in setting the world on the right path."

Your answer seemed to please Pierce because the smile lost its harsh edge and softened into something more kind. He patted your head like you were his pet dog and you closed your eyes. The next thing you knew was the Chair was switched on and everything when stark blinding white. You wouldn't remember you or the Solider's dissonant screams, just a passing thought that you've done this all before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh. I'm just throwing whatever I got in my brain at this point. Throw feedback out if you want.

**Six Weeks Later**

It was rare nowadays to get a paper file when it came to a target. Everything was either on a tablet or word given orders. Your eyes skimmed the yellowed pages, committing the information to memory. The target was a SHIELD team ordered to stop a dealer of Chitarui weapons. Weapons that Hydra wanted in their own hands for study. Not to waste away in some SHIELD warehouse where it would disappear. It was too bad. They were even sending a Driver to make sure everything ran smoothly. Drivers were easy targets. So easy. Keep them off balance and aim for the core crystal.

Simple. Then again these were SHIELD Drivers. Not your average merc or random civilian. They were dangerous, crafty and well prepared more often than not. Always better to kill them off quick before they called for backup. Backup was fun. Meant more shooting, using your Arts to maim and tear and create a glorious picture of murderous self expression. A rapsy giggle bubbled out of you before you could stop it. Oh, maybe they would allow you and Solider to work together for once. Hydra's Aegis cutting down enemies in a deadly dance with his knife and arm. You as his dark gunslinger content in his shadow, going for elbows and kneecaps and throats because you wouldn't kill them. Your giggles morphed into full blown wheezy laughter. The kill was reserved for your Winter Solider.

You needed to calm down and focus. You gathered the file and spread it across the floor. Pillowy puffs of dark smog dissipated and spread further away from you as you do so. You blinked in confusion and noticed the smog was covering the floor, creeping along the walls. Huh. You slid a hand along your torso, fingers skimming the glowing vents where hot smoke blew over your fingers. A glance towards the door and you saw it creeping out into the hallway. Now that wouldn't do. Especially since poisoning any of the Strike Team would be not good. You ran a hand over the bridge of your nose and changed the smog into something more harmless. Like natural fog.

Most it would do is give humans a irritated throat for a while if they breathed it in. Now you could pay attention to the file, comfortable resting in a crouch on the floor with your coat pooled around you in a puddle.

* * *

Rumlow knew he would regret this so called gift from Pierce. Hydra's so called potent Toxin. For how high up he was, the real name was redacted for some conditioning bullshit. Something about it being a trigger and little paper trail and blah blah. Strike Team didn't need some stupid Blade for protection. Yeah, he was a Driver but Blades were a liability and a weakness. Goddamn ether glow from their bodies made stealth a joke. Sure, you were hot, a great lay and one of the best shots he had even seen. Even looked at him like he hung the moon when he wasn't doling out orders. That should be enough to settle his doubts but there was downsides he couldn't ignore. He glared at anyone who made eye contact as he walked to collect you from your room.

For one, your eyes. They were always just so damn unnaturally joyful. Like your mind hadn't been scrambled six ways to Sunday. He wasn't one of those weirdos who was in Hydra and followed it like it was religion. The pay was nice and he liked being in control. Causing a little mayhem on the side was a plus. You were like the science and engineer minions who were too damn smart for their own good. He knew on some level you had no control over it with all the programming done over the decades. There was no way you could but who knew how Blade's brains really worked? Behind that joy and programming, Rumlow felt something was curled up like a wounded animal just waiting for its chance.

Not that he could prove it. You listened well enough and took a bit too much relish in killing that fed the sadist in, but was perfect. Didn't mean that he would be putting his guard down around you. Too many times he would feel your eyes watching him a bit too closely. You were just a creepy sonavubitch with weird eyes who laughed at inopportune times. Though that didn't put a candle to interaction with the Winter Solider. He wasn't the only one unnerved by your behavior with the other brainwashed freak. God, you two were just two little creepy peas in a pod whenever you got paired up.

The Asset would let you touch his weapons and get him dressed for missions. Last time one of the flunkies tried down that, he heard the poor bastard got his arm broken for it. So just you. Hell, he even let you fix his stupid hair and talk to him. It was ridiculous. The hierarchy of command was all gone for you when it came to him. When the Asset was around, you only follow orders if you got them from him. No one could touch you around him either. Too many instances of good agents dying or severely wounded just made everyone give up. You two did better at your missions when paired up with a handler and extraction team on stand by.

Made sense whatever stupid bond Drivers and Blades shared could never go away even with Hydra conditioning. Knowing that the Asset was long thought dead Bucky Barnes was not too surprising. The knowledge made him smirk whenever he looked at Cap's irritating face. The day was coming soon he could gloat with it to that self righteous ass. What Rumlow couldn't wrap his head around was that you were Bucky's Blade. The real deal one from the forties. He - with the rest of the world - assumed that your crystal was lost in the Alps when the sniper fell off the train. The military had been all up in tizzy about it from what could remember. No one liked losing documented rare Blades that had useful capabilities.

Hell, up until Thor came crashing down with his big ol' hammer, SHIELD had a skeleton team looking for you. Rumlow huffed out a laugh that quickly turned into a cough as he closed in on your cell door. He coughed again, throwing an arm over his nose and mouth to figure out the cause. He noticed the lingering smog that was coming from underneath the door and groaned. He was getting written up for this for sure. Always in control Rumlow couldn't handle Toxin from nearly killing everyone in the base, he could see it now. Ugh.

He shouldered his way into your cell and was annoyed at the itchy feeling in the back of his throat growing. Rumlow coughed again and left the door open to air out the bare room. Of fucking course you were oblivious to it, having the nerve to look irritatingly cute going over mission parameters. Sitting on the floor like a child with eerie stillness as your eyes followed the words on the pages. He had a few things in mind to get you to do for annoying him before he even spoke to you.

"You better have an explanation for this, pet. How when I come to get you, I nearly die when I step foot in here? "he said, nudging you in the back hard with his boot.

You turned slightly to look at him and said with too much glee that it made him even more irritated, "Rummy!"

Ugh. Right. File said to let you call him whatever to help your brain follow his orders better or some shit. Goddamn creepy dead behind the eyes freak of a Blade. Rumlow glared at you and shoved you with his leg hard enough that you fell onto your side. He needed a pay raise for this nonsense.

"Get. Talking."

You blinked up at him with a blank look, not moving from the position you landed in. "I was committing the mission parameters to memory."

Liar. It was more of a half truth. Probably thinking about the Asset with the tickling in his throat not going away. He didn't have time for this. Pierce wanted you off this milk run job and onto Project Insight. Rumlow figured the Asset didn't need help but Pierce was all about overkill and timing. He wanted to make sure Insight got off the ground with no problems. As long as he got paid at the end of the day, he could give less of a damn. He kicked you hard enough to make you roll over before bending down and grabbing onto the collar of your jacket. Coughing, he ignored your uncoordinated scramble to collect the file as he dragged you out the room.

Watching you assassinate Fury with those pretty dual cannons pistols would be worth the headache you were.


	3. Chapter 3

You wished that you could always be outside like this. It was exhilarating. Having such an important mission assigned to you was like drowning. That quiet moment when all sound was gone and there was no air left in your lungs, just whatever made what you were. It was a heady high that sharpened your focus to a needlepoint. The Director of SHIELD wouldn't escape your grasp. He was a serious obstacle to the success of Project Insight and Pierce wanted you to do the deed. You had no qualms that you were the second choice for the job. It was obvious to anyone that with an assassination this important that the Solider should be the one to do so. Plans changed - which didn't concern you - to assign you to such a target.

Oh but the Solider. He was perfect. Your memories were generally hazy and scattered at the best of times but you wouldn't forget this. Try to not forget it.

 

_"Two minutes to roll out! There is no room for failure. Make sure your assets complete their missions and extract to the bank once finished. Hail Hydra."_

_Mutters of responses came around as everyone assigned for the mission readied to go. Guns and vehicles were prepared with practiced ease, everyone keeping a wide berth from both assets. The Solider stood like a statue as he stared unseeing into the distance. He made a picture of nightmares in his full gear, mission ready. You stood next to him just a still though you tracked Rumlow with your eyes as he readied to leave with his Strike Team. Rollins noticed your stare and elbowed your handler to get his attention._

_The man turned to look at you, a scowl on his face and snapped his fingers. Time to go. You started to walk over to the van when a metal hand clamped down on your shoulder._

_You stopped, turning to see what prompted him to do so. You couldn't tell with the goggles and mask on what expression was on his face. You knew that you should shrug off the hand but you couldn't it was the Solider. The thought flew out your head when that hand drifted across the crystal jutting out the back of your neck with a careful touch. A gentle stroke over your scalp and forehead, a soft chill when those fingers pushed the hair hiding your eyes out the way.  You were oblivious to the sharp silence that descended when all you could focus on was that hand and the bubbling mix of feelings threatening to break through._

_"Be...safe."_

 

The two of you were shoved apart and herded to your destinations after that. You were sure that your behavior warranted a punishment except you were shoved into the van. The only thing that Rumlow did was stifle a cough with a tense look on his face. He sat in the back seat typing into his phone with a terse command for no interruptions. Leaning over into his space, you nuzzled his shoulder and pressed your lower face mask to his throat in a shade of a kiss. Whatever tension Rumlow was holding went a little away and he patted your head.

He didn't tear his eyes away from his phone and it didn't mean you were out of trouble but he was less angry. Good. His touch wasn't the same as the Solider and that was fine.

That touch was a benediction. Confusing and saddening and filled with so much longing and loss that it left you reeling. Hydra's Aeigs did not talk often. Only when prompted with a command or a question would he answer. Why did he say that? Why did it feel like something inside you was screaming and it was so easy brush it aside?

Maybe the recent cleansing didn't take like it was supposed to. No. You were functional and mission ready. If these...feelings kept up, then you would bring your concern up to Rumlow. The Chair would take the memory no matter how much you wanted to keep it. Hopefully this was just a lapse because of that touch.

You looked out the window instead, spying your target's vehicle a few cars ahead in the traffic. It was time.

 

 

Architect damned slippery son of a bitch! You snarled where you were pinned, trapped under a flaming SHIELD van. You were furious. It was almost done. You had him. **You had him.** The street filled with smog to debilitate, smother. Choke the senses and be a smokescreen to hide your movements. The human had been right there in said burning van ripe for the killing. Your pistols letting out a whine as you prepared for a head shot when the fucking van exploded. Next thing you knew was that you were airborne, on fire and crushed beneath about a ton of metal.

The chaos around meant little when your target escaped. Oh, the Director would likely be dead with the wounds you inflicted, no doubt. You still failed. Rummy would be so angry and the knowledge sent a line of fear and shame through you. You were a good asset. Pierce would know and you knew something bad would happen to you. You don't know how you knew that but you just **knew.**

This proved it. You needed another cleansing. A wheezy cackle rushed of you as you struggled to lift the van off your body. Oh yes, the Solider always compromised you in some fashion. This had to be why they didn't prepare you in missions together. You could get the job done sometimes but when you failed, you failed in spectacularly disastrous fashions. Example, right now. The van creaked and groaned as you shoved it onto its side, vents puffing out sluggish amounts of smog.

Extraction. You needed to get to the extraction point. Failure meant nothing if you got caught. Pain shuddered through your frame as you staggered to your feet. It was hard to breathe, one of your eyes wouldn't open and your left side felt too hot. Amazing. Hurt meant alive and the wounds would heal. They always did. Hurt was good. The smog blanketing the street was starting to evaporate and your chances of escape was shortening. You cinched your pistols tighter in their hostlers, tugging your coat tight and disappeared into the smog.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve knew that he was still getting used to this new time. He just started getting some stability in his life even with the outlandish things he has dealt with lately. Aliens, gods, new teammates and a fancy new job from SHIELD. He was still trying to wrap his head around it, not including his game of catch up. There was just so much. Pop culture, music, fashion, governments, policies on Blades, sometimes it was overwhelming. Things were a hundred times better than what he had to grow with, he could admit. He rested his head in his hands, trying to stave of a headache.

He wasn't expecting his past to come and literally punch him in the face. The thought of HYDRA doing all those things to Bucky made him nauseous. It hurt to know his best friend was right there and he didn't even know who he was. Didn't know his own name. All that stability and moving on he thought he'd done shattered under that revelation. HYDRA being in SHIELD so deep that no one noticed from the beginning. Steve closed his eyes and fought off the urge to rub his temples. The thought was a passing one but he wondered if that you were alive somehow. God, he hoped not. He busted enough HYDRA bases back in the day to know that they were experimenting with old Judicium research. Anything they created was a bad sign to come. He wanted to believe that your crystal was buried underneath ice and snow in the mountains somewhere.

But there was the smog when they were getting transported in the van. It was just as thick as he remembered. He read up on rare Blades and powers generally didn't overlap. Skills would but never something that made a Blade recognizable on sight. Nausea grew at the thought of what HYDRA did to you both. There was so much to do. SHIELD had to go down and there had to be a way to save you both.

"Steven?" A soft tinkling of bells alerted him to who it was before dainty fingers carded through his hair. He lifted his face from his hands with a weak smile to look at his Blade. Phaedra was still the pillar that he could lean on after all this time. It helped that they could navigate the world together. Her deep contralto helped soothe him from nightmares. She started to massage his scalp, the bells on her wrists tinkling away. It struck him that she fit so well in the future time. Blades serving in the army had to wear the uniforms so they blended in. Her dress reminded him of a bell of how it flared out from her waist and her capelet hid how low the dress was cut. It also helped hide her core crystal nestled in the middle of her back and the sash where her claymore rested.

Not that it wouldn't be hard to tell she was the Aeigs with the gold accents to her clothes and green core crystal shining bright on her headpiece. Delicate horns akin to the curved horns of an impala rose upward with a crystal nestled above the middle of her forehead. Her kind and no nonsense nature meshed well enough with his own.

"I'm alright. Its just...we have to try to save him. There has to be something in there." He couldn't bare to think of what he would have to do if his friend couldn't be reached. "Phae, that smog was too familiar. If Bucky is alive, they would be too."

Steve watched her regular serene expression turn sad. She continued the massage as she tucked a wayward strand of white hair behind her ear. He never got the full extent of the relationship between the two but they were close. The most he knew was you and Phaedra worked together before Bucky became your Driver. Steve reached over and patted the empty seat next to him at the table. She huffed at him and smoothed out her dress as she took the seat.

"Hydra is not subtle with their use of brainwashing as Natasha said. That does not mean there is no hope. We fear more what the repercussion of decades under those conditions could mean. Darling could be perfectly fine once they return to their crystal as they won't remember it though we doubt Hydra has made it that easy. James, on the other hand, might find it difficult to adjust if he manages to break through the conditioning." Phaedra said, giving Steve a serious look.

She gave a pat on the head when he tried to protest. Steve leaned back in his chair with a sigh and waved at her to continue. Bucky was strong enough, he knew it. He could do it. It would take time and help but he could try.

"If what we learned about the Winter Aegis is true, anyone would crack. It will be a miracle if he remembers anything at all. Whatever Hydra did has something to do with our Darling as well. The two always had a strong bond and we suspect that Hydra exploited that bond." Phaedra stood and brushed off her dress, giving him a gentle smile. "Regardless, we are with you to the end, Steven. The Architect himself will not be able to take us away from you."

Steve couldn't help but laugh at that and shook his head. Of course, they would take down Hydra together. Sam, Nat, Maria and Fury was on their side. They had to do this for the sake of keeping the world safe and getting their friends back.


	5. Chapter 5

Something was wrong with the Solider. At first, you suspected that you were the only one who needed cleansing. The reaction he had to the blond target was unusual. You nursed the new mottling bruise on your face added by Rumlow on top of your healing injuries. Maybe their was something wrong with the machine. Machines broke down and got glitches sometimes. That had to be why you nearly failed your mission and he was so adamant that he knew the man. From the rooftop, you didn't get a good look but the silhouette was confusing. Your mind drew up a picture of a short skinny man with blurry features. It wasn't the first time in the last few hours you've been seeing or remembering things that irritated you.

Old apartment buildings and the scent of gunpowder mixed with the wet smell of forest mud. Tinkling bells and blinding rays of light shooting down from the sky making glass craters. Cheers from uniformed men as you sparred a golden horned woman with a sword. There was a growing itchiness beneath your skin that was irritating you. You started to pace in a tight line and fought the urge to bang your head against the wall. You knew that you've been a Blade for Hydra from the beginning. Rumlow was your Driver and deadly with his gun and words. Your feelings about the Solider swayed between wanting to burrow inside him and killing anyone who dared to touch him.

A sharp jab on your shoulder made you turn around and into one of the stuffy guard minions. "Hey, keep still!"

It might have been part reflex or the irritation growing into simmering anger as you had one of your guns in your hand. A bark of a laugh and you shot the guard into the shoulder. He went down screaming and clutching his shoulder as he tried to get away. That just wouldn't do since he wanted to get your attention so badly. Smiling down at him, a heeled boot was into the now whimpering guard's wound. Putting weight on the stupid creature made pulses of pain shake through your body. Something was leaking from one of your left side vents and you had a feeling it was ether. No matter as the pain brought a sharp quiet focus to your confused thoughts. A finger went to your lips to convey the silence you wanted from him just like in your head.

"Hush now, minion. You are distracting me from fulfilling the will of Hydra," you tapered off into a giggle as you aimed between his eyes, "I can make sure we both fulfill our duties. A eye is little due in service of Hydra."

You covered your blackened eye with your empty hand, cackling at your own joke. You would have shot the minion in one of his eyes if electricity didn't make you lose control of your body. There was screaming and it took a moment to realize that it was you. Something about the situation made you giggle as the fire in your veins stopped and you tucked your shaking limbs together to stay as small as possible. There was a definite wet patch and the vents on your left side making a sputtering noise and neon blue ether puddle settling underneath you. Familiar boots stepped into your vision and you knew you were in trouble.

"Really? You're stupider than my dog. Being a mutt is too good for you, isn't it? What's the problem, hm?" Rumlow crouched down with a sneer on his lips and poked you none too nicely with the handle of the electric prod in his grip.

How were you supposed to answer that? Rummy wouldn't like the truth and lying wasn't an option. He was so angry. There was no one to blame but yourself. This is where thinking got you. Who cared about a stupid golden woman and blond man with the shield? You laced your trembling fingers together to hold back a nervous laugh. Why did attempting to think about them made you want to wail in despair? The Solider was the only one that mattered. You didn't like this fog in your head. The fog was supposed to be soothing. Not...not like something was stalking you in your own mind and using it to observe you.

* * *

 

Rumlow didn't think for a second that things could get worse in the past few days. Pierce was on his ass about the failed hit on Fury and Cap being in the wind. Half the shit was out of his control in the first place. The damn Asset failed in killing Rogers but ended up doing the job on Fury. Oh, he didn't hear the end of it. His fault on not watching the stupid Blade and not keeping up with his reports. That in itself was total bullshit. Ever since Project Insight went into motion, little things started to go wrong. Toxin spacing out, nearly killing everyone in the compound with poison gas during a down day, and being quiet.

The damn Blade was never quiet. He was not sure if it was programmed or not. Always swaying in place, laughing at everything and nothing, writhing underneath him in a what he could only describe as a manic delight. If the silence did come and rare as it did, it was during a mission. It was just creepy. One the scientists mentioned to him once that it was probably leftovers of the actual you. Same thing with Barnes. Some things you couldn't tap all the way out with brainwashing and conditioning. He sighed at the lack of answer he was getting and his growing annoyance at the shit week he was having. He kicked you in the back with the satisfaction of hearing you let out a stifled groan. Who was he kidding? This was all Rogers and the stupid Aegis fault.

Couldn't keep their damn noses of anything. He wasn't dumb. He was the leader of the STRIKE for a goddamn reason. He bet his life on whatever shit Hydra did to make you and the Asset literal death machines was breaking down. He was ready to beat the answer out of you when he heard Pierce clear his throat. The man was finished telling whatever he needed to pacify him which meant something was going on. Damn Rogers ruined everything. As his boss got closer, he took a step back and composed himself. The old man had the nerve to smile at him like he was expecting him to mess up. He huffed and wiped his ether soaked boot on the tail of your coat.

"No need to be too harsh. We still need our Blade in working condition. I'm sure they just have a question they want answered. Especially after having to have our Winter Aegis clean up their failure." Pierce said with a kind smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"I...", Rumlow narrowed his eyes as you managed to get yourself in a seated position. You kept your gaze firmly on the floor with your hands gripping at the lapels of your coat.

"I've seen the man in the van before. He doesn't look the same b-but I know him from someplace. The golden woman too. They don't look the same but I know and the fog is just me and its not and I'm sorry and its wrong wrong wrong-" Pierce looked up at him as you started to mutter and laugh into your hands. 

If the man could look less happy, he would have. He twirled the prod in his hand and gave a quick shock to knock off whatever stupid trigger was making you unstable. The shock was enough to make you yelp out a laugh and go abruptly silent as Pierce buried a hand in your hair. You went still and it took him a moment to realize that ether was dripped from under your mask.

"No need to fret. You have seen both before in a briefing for the mission. Don't worry as you will have the privilege to redeem yourself for this last mission. Why don't you go settle the Asset for cleansing?" Pierce let go and stepped back to Rumlow's side, watching as you crawled to the Chair where the Asset sat.

Well...that interaction had sinking feeling of dread go right to the pit of his stomach. He kept a eye on you as he let himself settle into the right headspace. This would get you and the Asset out the way. The helicarriers would go up and Cap couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. He could feel Pierce's eyes on him and held back a sigh. The fun was just getting started. "I got it. How do you want it done?"

Pierce folded his hands behind his back as he gave the signal to start, the echoes of Hydra's weapons screaming like background noise. Both of you were a liability in the new world Project Insight would bring. He watched as your body started to deconstruct as if your were retreating into your crystal. Rumlow didn't understand the process and boiled it down to the Chair was destroying and remaking the bond you both shared. It wiped the Asset clean for orders and for you, the closet thing Blades could get to dying.

"Simple. Execution and bring back the body. Bring back the arm and crystal. There is a plethora of things to discover from them, don't your you agree?"

Rumlow wasn't for thinking about things like that. He did what he was told more or less. He rather have fun ruining some lives than research. "Sure, boss."


End file.
